Space Exploration

Engineers have begun injecting propellant into the Long march-2F T2 rocket that will carry the Tiangong-2 into space, reports China’s State news agency Xinhua, quoting Wu Ping, the deputy director of the manned space engineering office. Once launched into space, the Tiangong-2 is scheduled to manoeuvre itself into an orbit about 380 kilometres above the Earth … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation of a report on a Chinese news site. According to a report on Chinese news site mil.huanqiu.com, China has developed and conducted a successful maiden flight of its CZ-11 anti-ASAT rocket with a diameter of 2 metres able to send a load of 350 kg to sun-synchronous orbit, … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation of a report from Chinese media: China’s top official media CCTV reported in its primetime news that China has successfully launched its new Changzheng VI rocket to send 20 satellites into their orbits. 18 of the 20 satellites had successfully separated from the rocket while the remaining 2 … Continue reading →

China has confirmed it plans to send a spacecraft to land on the moon’s “dark side” before 2020, state media reports — a mission, which, if successful, would make it the first country to do so. The mission will be carried out by the lunar probe Chang’e-4, Zou Yongliao, a scientist at the Chinese Academy … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation of a report on a Chinese news site: According to a report on Chinese news site mil.huanqiu.com, China’s state-owned weapons giant the China North Industries Group Corporation (North Industries) and private Internet giant Alibaba Group have set up a joint venture to market and apply the services of … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation of a report on a Chinese news site: Mil.huanqiu.com says in its report that China successfully conducted an ignition test of the second stage of its new heavy rocket the Changzheng-V (CZ-V), and has thus laid a sound foundation for the integrated drill and successful first flight of … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation from a report in Chinese media: A CCTV reports in its primetime news said that China has launched two satellites for its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) with one of its new-type Changzheng-3B/Expedition-1 rockets. The Expedition-1 can send multiple satellites to different orbits as it has a top … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation from Chinese media: Mil.huanqiu.com reports that China has successfully developed its homegrown large (10 kW grade) liquid hydrogen low temperature refrigeration equipment, a very important device for its space program. The device involves top advanced technology which has been withheld from China by the rest of the world. … Continue reading →

The following is based on a translation from Chinese media: Russia’s Moscow Times lists four top projects of cooperation between China and Russia to describe the increasingly closer ties between the two de factor allies. We do not know whether the newspaper’s description aims at countering the closer ties between the US and Japan resulting … Continue reading →

China’s gifted strategist Sun Tze says in his writings “The Art of War”: Knowing oneself and one’s enemy, one is never in peril in war. Knowing oneself but not one’s enemy, one has a half chance to win and a half chance to lose. Reuters says in its report “U.S. must invest to keep ahead … Continue reading →

China launched 19 and 20 satellites respectively in 2012 and 2013, mostly for its own use, and has thus become the country that launches the greatest number of satellites each year. According to Jane’s Defence Weekly (quoting Chinese media), only a small number of China’s new satellites are for non-military space programs. However, as pointed … Continue reading →

China’s lunar rover appears not to be as agile or as long-lived as its name implies. The Jade Rabbit, named after a mythical lunar bunny who mixes elixirs of immortality, has experienced a mechanical abnormality resulting from the “complicated lunar surface environment,” the official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend, citing China’s state space agency. Deployed … Continue reading →

Having been briefed by top security advisers about North Korea’s success in landing an astronaut on the Sun, President Obama today announced his decisive response. China has also bowed to North Korea’s superior technology. On January 21st, a satirical post “appeared at the Waterford Whisper News…” mimicking typical North Korean propaganda; it proclaimed: The State News Agency of … Continue reading →

Just days after Jade Rabbit’s historic moon landing, incriminating photos have surfaced which show China’s rover littering and writing its name in the Bay of Rainbows, reigniting an old debate about the behavior of Chinese tourists abroad. Newly released photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope clearly show the rover using tire tracks to write “Jade … Continue reading →

Following the successful launch of its first lunar rover, the Chinese government has declared a defensive zone extending vertically from China into space and encompassing the moon. The Lunar Defense Obliteration Zone, according to newly appointed space minister Wu Houyi, “will protect China’s core interests and interplanetary sovereignty.” All foreign spacecraft, satellites, comets and space debris … Continue reading →

China on Saturday successfully carried out the world’s first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, state media said, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon. The unmanned Chang’e 3 lander, named after a mythical Chinese goddess … Continue reading →

A report appearing in the pro-regime China Times brags that China’s launch of the Long March-3B rocket earlier this week is part of a long term plan to turn the moon into a Star Wars-style “death star” from which the PLA could launch missiles against any target on Earth. It all sounds like something straight … Continue reading →

China launched its first ever extraterrestrial landing craft into orbit en route for the moon in the small hours of Monday, in a major milestone for its space program. The Chang’e-3 lunar probe, which includes the Yutu or Jade Rabbit buggy, blasted off on board an enhanced Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite … Continue reading →

The Moon could be a “beautiful” source of minerals and energy, a top Chinese scientist has told the BBC. Exotic materials including helium-3 and the potential for solar power could prove invaluable for humankind, he says. The comments come from Prof Ouyang Ziyuan of the department of lunar and deep space exploration. His first interview … Continue reading →

Last month, China surprised the world by announcing that it might be opening its space program to foreign astronauts and multinational collaboration. The announcement came in mid-September, when Yang Liwei (deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency) claimed the Chinese government was considering taking foreign astronauts on future missions as well as providing training. … Continue reading →

China will launch a lander and rover to the moon by the end of this year, officials announced Wednesday, part of an ambitious plan to return samples from the lunar surface by 2017 and send humans within the next decade. China will send a rover to the moon by the end of the year, officials … Continue reading →

On Tuesday, China took yet another step towards establishing itself as a major player in space. It’s latest manned spacecraft, known as the Shenzhou 10, departed the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at the edge of the Gobi Desert, carrying three astronauts on what is planned to be a fifteen day mission that will see them … Continue reading →

Space is playing an increasing role in security talks between the United States and China, although no formal dialogue dedicated to space security has begun, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday. “Over the past year or so, space has been included in an increasing way and we hope to continue those discussions … Continue reading →

China‘s growing capabilities in space could undercut any U.S. military response if Beijing resorted to force to bring self-ruled Taiwan into its fold, a study released Friday by a congressionally mandated U.S. commission said. China’s military is rapidly boosting its space programs to advance Communist Party interests “and defend against perceived challenges to sovereignty and … Continue reading →